All the latest genealogy industry news based on press releases issued by genealogy vendors, societies, educators and other service providers.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

The Guild’s Latest Membership Landmark

The Guild of One-Name Studies has reached another membership milestone. In
2015 the Guild of One-Name Studies broke all its previous memberships records
by recruiting some 418 new members with a further 15 previous Guild members re-joining
the Guild during the year. A total of 433
new members. This milestone follows a very successful year for the Guild of
One-Name Studies in 2015 when the Guild achieved its highest membership ever –
some 2,847 members.

Since the 1st January
2015 some 418 members joined the Guild of One-Name Studies, 233 were from the
UK, 90 from the US, 14 from New Zealand, 43 from Australia, 16 from Canada and 9
from the Republic of Ireland. The remainder were from various other countries. 44%
of the new members were from non-UK regions, which is a valuable step towards
increased worldwide membership for the Guild. There were also 15 returning
members: 9 from the UK, 3 from the US, 1 from Australia and 2 from Canada. The Guild now has 2,847 members spread across
the world, studying over 8,700 individual surnames.

The continued increase in the Guild’s membership
every year since the Guild was founded in 1979 (an achievement not many Family
History organisations have managed) is a testament to the popularity of the
Guild and the benefits it offers to its members - as the following table shows:

New members per month:

Year

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

Avge

2015

27

22

44

95

29

29

28

24

37

29

22

32

418

34.8

2014

34

64

14

15

10

21

11

15

21

21

27

30

283

23.6

2013

17

53

25

24

12

9

19

18

27

20

15

6

245

20.4

The highest numbers achieved in a particular
month are highlighted in yellow.

• the benefits of joining the Guild of One-Name Studies, and the
assistance members of the Guild can provide to anyone researching their family
history on any of the 8,700-plus names currently being researched.

Cliff Kemball, the Guild’s Publicity Officer, said today:

“This is yet another
significant milestone for the Guild of One-Name Studies and is a testament to
the continued development of the Guild internationally and the benefits
membership provides. We hope that this trend continues into 2016 and beyond and
reaffirms the Guild as the world’s leading organisation for One-Name Studies.”

The Guild of One-Name Studies is
the world's leading organisation for one-name studies. A one-name study is a
project researching facts about a surname and all the people who have held it,
as opposed to a particular pedigree (the ancestors of one person) or
descendancy (the descendants of one person or couple). The Guild is a
charitable organisation dedicated to promoting the public understanding of
one-name studies and the preservation and accessibility of the resultant
information. Founded in 1979, the Guild now has 2,847 members spread across the
world, studying over 8,700 individual surnames.